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Blockade of the Gaza Strip

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For the campaign in Gaza in ancient history, see Siege of Gaza.

The 2007–2009 blockade of the Gaza Strip refers to the most recent blockade of Gaza, one imposed by Egypt and Israel, beginning in June 2007, on the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip of the Palestinian territories.[1][2][3][4] It immediately followed the 2006–2007 economic sanctions against the Palestinian National Authority following the election of Hamas to control of the Palestinian government.

The blockade is controversial and has attracted criticism from many human rights bodies. US President Barack Obama has called for the end of the blockade, saying that if the blockade is tight to allow reconstruction it will only harm Israel's long-term security. [5]

Timeline

2000–2007 restrictions

The al-Aqsa intifada which broke out in September 2000 led to military blockade of the Gaza Strip and closure of the Gaza International Airport. The economic effects were immense, in the order of some US$5,300m, and worsened after the creation of a ‘buffer zone’ in September 2001, that would seal all entry and exit points in the Territories for security reasons. After 9 October, 2001, movement of people and goods across the ‘Green Line’ dividing the West Bank from Israel, and between Gaza and Israel, was halted, and a complete internal closure was effected on November 14, 2001.[6]. The worsening economic and humanitarian situation raised great concern abroad. According to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in January 2003

'(T)he Israeli blockade and closures over the past two years had pushed the Palestinian economy into such a stage of ‘de-development’ that as much as US $2,400m. had been drained out of the economy of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip’[7]

Over the period between 2000 and 2006 as a consequence of the Gaza conflict and Israel's ensuing military operations in the Strip, it is estimated that there was a loss of $42,846,895 in Gazan agricultural productivity, due to the destruction of land, trees, vegetables and greenhouses.[8]

Israel left Gaza on Sept 1, 2005 as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan. An 'Agreement on Movement and Access' between Israel and the Palestinian Authority was brokered by Condaleeza Rice in November 2005 to improve Palestinian freedom of movement and economic activity in the Gaza Strip. Under its terms, the Rafah crossing with Egypt was to be reopened, with transits monitored by the Palestinian Authority and the EU. However, only people with Palestinian ID, or foreign nationals, by exception, in certain categories, subject to Israeli oversight, were permitted to cross in and out. All goods, vehicles and trucks to and from Egypt had to pass through the Israeli crossing at Kerem Shalom, or under full Israeli supervision[9]. Goods were also permitted transit at the Karni crossing in the north. However, throughout 2006, the latter terminal remained only partially operational, costing Palestinians losses of $500,000 a day, as less than 10% of the Gaza Strip's minimal daily export targets were achieved. Basic food commodities were severely depleted, bakeries closed and food rationing was introduced.[10]

Total blockade

A total blockade was imposed after Hamas defeated Fatah in the Battle of Gaza (2007), when Egypt and Israel partially sealed their border crossings with Gaza, on the grounds that Fatah had fled and was no longer providing security on their side.[11] Egypt [12] feared a spill-over of Hamas-style militancy into Egypt.[13] The sanctions were tightened in response to rocket attacks on southern Israel and Palestinian militant attacks on crossing points between Israel and Gaza.[14][15]

Perishable goods and basic supplies blocked

Israel has blocked foods from entering Gaza. The international aid group Mercy Corps had been trying to send ninety tons of macaroni to the Gaza Strip to help the 1.4 million Palestinians of the Strip after Israel's 22-day military operation. Israel repeatedly refused. Israel has also prevented aid groups from sending in a range of items including paper, crayons, tomato paste and lentils. Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stated "We want to make sure that reconstruction for the people of Gaza is not reconstruction for the Hamas regime." U.s. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said on February 25 that "Aid should never be used as a political weapon." "We'll try to push to get into Gaza as many supplies as possible." [16]

Israeli and United Nations officials meet each day in Tel Aviv to debate what the most important things are for Israel to allow into Gaza: tents for thousands of Palestinians who are homeless or glass to replace the windows shattered by the Israeli offensive? Should shoes take priority over first aid kits? Is it more important to bring in diapers or shovels? This process has been criticized by Charles Clayton, head of the Association of International Development Agencies, an umbrella organization that represents 75 aid groups. [17]

Breach of the Gaza-Egypt border

Main article: Breach of the Gaza-Egypt border

The breach of the Gaza-Egypt border began on January 23, 2008, after gunmen in the Gaza Strip set off an explosion near the Rafah Border Crossing, destroying part of the former Israeli Gaza Strip barrier. The United Nations estimates that as many as half the 1.5 million population of the Gaza Strip crossed the border into Egypt seeking food and supplies.[18] Egyptian troops at first stood aside[13] and later closed the border with the Gaza Strip after 11 days, on February 3, 2008.

Attempt at easing restrictions

Under a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in June 2008, Israel agreed to lift its blockade. However, Israel mostly maintained it. By August 2008, Israel was still allowing in very few goods.[19] At Egypt's request, Israel did not always respond to Palestinian cease fire violations by closing the border.[20]

Blockade agreements

The Palestinians who negotiated the 2008 cease-fire believed that the commerce in Gaza was to be restored to the levels preceding Israel's withdrawal in 2005 and Hamas's electoral victory. [21][22] Israeli policy tied the easing of the blockade on success in reducing rocket fire[23]. Israel permitted a 20% increase in goods trucked into Gaza in the pre-lull period, up from 70 to 90 truckloads a day.[21], including not only humanitarian supplies but also clothes, shoes, refrigerators, and construction materials.[24] Fuel supplies increased from 55MW worth to 65MW worth.[24] BBC News reported in 11 November that Gaza was then receiving only 28% of the amount of goods traded before the Hamas takeover.[24]

Over the one month period from 4 November to 8 December, about 700 truck loads of goods went into Gaza, about 1/40th of what would have gone through without the blockade.[22][25]

Israel stated that food imports into the Strip were restricted by its inability to operate at border checkpoints.[24] It accused Hamas of exacerbating fuel shortages by leading labor union strikes by power plant workers.[24] It has also accused Hamas of underfunding the Gaza health care system, and then blaming the situation on Israel despite supposed free trade of medical supplies. Israel states that some people claiming to require medical attention in Israel were in fact planning terrorist attacks, therefore forcing the government to impose travel restrictions.[24][26]

Israel also accused Hamas of continuing smuggling weapons into Gaza via tunnels to Egypt, pointing out that the rocket attacks had not completely ceased, and complained that Hamas would not continue negotiating the release of Israeli hostage Gilad Shalit, held by Hamas in Gaza since 2006.[27] Hamas' decision alienated it from the government of Egypt, which had linked the opening of the Gaza-Egypt border crossing with Shalit's release.[28] In the early stage of the cease-fire, Israeli officials had stated that they found “a certain sense of progress” on Shalit's release.[29]

The UN recorded seven IDF violations of the ceasefire between June 20 and June 26, and three violations by Palestinian groups not affiliated with Hamas between June 23 and 26.[30] On December 18, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, reported 185 Israeli violations during the lull period.[31] The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center reported a total of 223 rockets and 139 mortar shells fired from Gaza during the lull, including 20 rockets and 18 mortar shells before November 4.[32] It noted that "Hamas was careful to maintain the ceasefire" until November 4, when the ceasefire was "seriously eroded."[33] Rocket fire decreased by 98 percent in the four and a half months between June 18 and November 4 when compared to the four and half months preceding the ceasefire.[34] Hamas denied responsibility for the rocket fire during the 'lull'. However, Human Rights Watch reported that while Hamas security forces demonstrated an ability to curb rocket fire, some people detained for firing rockets were summarily released without explanation. [35]

In January 2009, after the first phase of the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict‎, Israel said it would allow in some humanitarian aide, but will continue its economic blockade in order to weaken the power of Hamas. [1]

  • A blockade is defined by Encyclopedia Britannica as an "an act of war by which a belligerent prevents access to or departure from a defined part of the enemy’s coasts."[36]
  • Whether or not a blockade was seen as lawful depended on the national laws of the nations whose trade was influenced by the blockade. Blockages were first defined in international law at the Congress of Paris in 1856.
  • An occupying power is obliged to follow the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention, which seeks to protect the civilian population.[15] The Security Council held in 1979 that the Fourth Convention applies in the territories captured by Israel in 1967, including Gaza. Israel, however, has never accepted that the convention should formally apply in the occupied territories, arguing that the conventions refer to occupied state sovereign territories. However it has said that it will be bound by their "humanitarian provisions".[15] Since 2005 Israel asserts that it ended its occupation of Gaza when it disengaged from the coastal strip in 2005.[37][38]
  • After Israel's unilateral disengagement plan from the Gaza strip, Israel no longer occupied Gaza with troops. There have been a series of attacks by Israeli ground forces such as the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict. Israel has retained control over Gaza's airspace and coastline, and over its own border with the territory. Egypt has control of its border with Gaza (except for the tunnels). Israel and Egypt also control the flow of goods in and out. Israel controls fuel imports to Gaza and controls the electricity which it supplies to Gaza from the Israeli electrical grid.[15]
  • The 1977 additional protocols to the Fourth Convention protects civilian populations in time of conflicts that fall short of war. Israel has not signed these protocols but there is an expectation internationally that it should respect them.[15]. Hamas does not administer an internationally recognized state and also has not signed these protocols.



Egyptian arguments

Israeli arguments

  • Israel has declared Gaza a "hostile entity", and argues that it is not legally responsible for Gaza and not obliged to help a "hostile" territory beyond whatever is necessary to avoid a humanitarian crisis. [15]
  • Israel also argues that its right to self-defence cannot be ignored. In order to pressure the Hamas government in Gaza to stop rocket attacks aimed on Israeli towns - actions which are themselves a violation of the Geneva Convention prohibition on attacks aimed solely at civilians - limited sanctions are better than major military incursion.[15] However, in late 2008, Israel decided to launch a military incursion with the stated reason being to halt the ongoing rocket attacks.

Arguments of International Human rights organizations

  • Human Rights Watch argues that Israel is still an occupying power and is responsible for Gaza under the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention.[15]

Criticism

On January 24, 2008, the United Nations Human Rights Council released a statement calling for Israel to lift its siege on the Gaza Strip, allow the continued supply of food, fuel, and medicine, and reopen border crossings.[2]. According to the Jerusalem Post, this was the 15th time in less than two years the council condemned Israel for its human rights record regarding the Palestinian territories.[39] The proceedings were boycotted by Israel and the United States.

On March 7, 2008, several international aid groups, including Amnesty International, CARE International UK, and Oxfam, issued a report saying that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip was more acute than at any time since the beginning of the Israeli occupation in 1967. They urged Israel to lift the blockade, characterizing it as collective punishment against the 1.5 million residents of the territory.[40]

On December 15, 2008, following a statement in which he described the embargo on Gaza a crime against humanity, United Nations human rights investigator Richard A. Falk was prevented from entering the Palestinian territories by Israeli authorities and expelled from the region.[41]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Amid Gaza violence, a new task for Obama". USA Today. 2008-12-29.
  2. ^ "Israeli Troops Mobilize as Gaza Assault Widens". ABC News. 2008-12-28.
  3. ^ "Gaza Straining At Egypt's Door". The Washington Post. 2007-06-18. Archived from the original on 2009-06-10. Retrieved 2009-06-05. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ "Gaza aid groups recycle border wall rubble for water and housing projects". Haaretz. 2008-12-05.
  5. ^ Sharp, Heather (2009-06-16). "Scant movement on Gaza blockade". BBC. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ 'Palestinian goods were subsequently denied passage through the West Bank border crossings with Jordan. Gaza’s Rafah crossings with Egypt and Israeli transit facilities. Thousands of truck-loads of goods were impounded in Israeli ports.After 14 November, the Israeli army imposed an almost complete internal closure on the territories. The economic blockade deprived the PA of the taxes in goods and salaries of those Palestinians employed in Israel'. Lucy Dean (ed.)The Middle East and North Africa, 2004, Routledge, London 2003 p.924
  7. ^ Lucy Dean (ed.),The Middle East and North Africa, 2004, Routledge 2003 p.925
  8. ^ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1060153.html Ilmas Futehally The plowshare over the sword,’ Haaretz, 31/01/2009
  9. ^ Tanya Reinhart, The Road to Nowhere, Verso, London 2006 pp.134-5
  10. ^ Report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.Sixty-first session, Supplement No.35 (A/61/35). October 2005-October 2006, United Nations Publications, New York, p.8
  11. ^ "Gaza Straining At Egypt's Door". The Washington Post. 2007-06-18. Archived from the original on 2009-06-10. Retrieved 2009-06-05. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ "Gaza Straining At Egypt's Door". The Washington Post. 2007-06-18. Archived from the original on 2009-06-10. Retrieved 2009-06-05. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ a b Palestinians flood into Egypt after blowing up border wall, The Guardian, January 23, 2008.
  14. ^ Associated Press (2008-05-22). "Truck bomb destroys Gaza-Israel pedestrian crossing". USA Today.
  15. ^ MClatchy Newspapers, February 26, 2009, "Israel Blocks Pasta Shipment to Gaza, and Tensions Boil" http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/story/62797.html
  16. ^ MClatchy Newspapers, February 26, 2009, "Israel Blocks Pasta Shipment to Gaza, and Tensions Boil" http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/story/62797.html
  17. ^ "Gazans make new border wall hole: Palestinians have bulldozed down part of the Gaza-Egypt border wall again, hours after Egyptian troops blocked holes recently made by militants". BBC News. 2008-01-25.
  18. ^ Aleem Maqbool (2008-08-19). "Truce barely eases Gaza embargo". BBC.
  19. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-07-06-3462899240_x.htm
  20. ^ a b Gaza Truce May Be Revived by Necessity. By Ethan Bronner. The New York Times. Published December 19, 2008.
  21. ^ a b Jimmy Carter on "An Unnecessary War". By John Nichols. The Nation. Published 1/08/2009.
  22. ^ Truce barely eases Gaza embargo. By Aleem Maqbool. BBC News. Published 19 August 2008.
  23. ^ a b c d e f Guide: Gaza under blockade. By Heather Sharp. BBC News. Published 11 November 2008.
  24. ^ Olmert aide supports free Gaza. By Dion Nissenbaum. McClatchy Newspapers. Published 8 December 2008
  25. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22XEkJY62VA
  26. ^ ElKhodary, Taghreed (December 28, 2008). "Israeli Attacks in Gaza Strip Continue for Second Day". New York Times. Archived from the original on December 30, 2008. Retrieved December 30, 2008. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  27. ^ Hamas says not interested in renewing Shalit negotiations By Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel. Ha'aretz. Published 12 August 2008.
  28. ^ Implementing the lull arrangement. Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center'. Retrieved 14 January 2009.
  29. ^ FACTBOX-Israel, Palestinians trade blame for truce violations Reuters. 26 Jun 2008
  30. ^ "Official Statistics About the lull Zionist Violations From the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades Information Office" - "إحصائية رسمية صادرة عن المكتب الإعلامي لكتائب القسام حول الانتهاكات الصهيونية للتهدئة". Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades Information Office. 2008-12-18. Archived from the original on 2009-01-17. Retrieved 2009-01-17.
  31. ^ http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/pdf/ipc_e007.pdf
  32. ^ Six Months of the Lull Arrangement Intelligence Report Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC) December 31, 2008
  33. ^ Summary of Rocket Fire and Mortar Shelling in 2008. (pdf) Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. Retrieved January 14, 2009. pp. 5-7. Drop in rocket fire calculated from data provided in report.
  34. ^ BRONNER, ETHAN (2008-12-19). "Gaza Truce May Be Revived by Necessity". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-02-12.
  35. ^ blockade - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
  36. ^ International Law and Gaza: The Assault on Israel's Right to Self-Defense, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Vol. 7, No. 29, January 28,2008.
  37. ^ Israeli MFA Address by Israeli Foreign Minister Livni to the 8th Herzliya Conference, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel), January 22, 2008.
  38. ^ "UNHRC slams Israel's actions in Gaza". The Jerusalem Post. 2008-01-25.
  39. ^ Tim Butcher (2008-03-07). "Human crisis in Gaza 'is worst for 40 years'". Daily Telegraph.
  40. ^ Isabel Kershner (2008-12-15). "U.N. Rights Investigator Expelled by Israel". New York Times.
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